Rationale for this Unit
An almost universal definition of bibliotherapy found in the literature is summarized by Karen Davis and Timothy Wilson, who say that "bibliotherapy is the process of growing toward emotional good health through the medium of literature" (1992, p. 2). Johnson, Wan, Templeton, Graham, and Sattler point out that the "documented use of bibliotherapy reaches back to the Ancient Greeks where it was primarily used with patients who were mentally ill, and continues through the twentieth century to present day use in a variety of settings" (2000, p. 2). McTague notes that "in 1916, Samuel Crothers prescribed books to his patients who needed help understanding their problems" (1998, p. 1). Obviously, there is a long history of using this technique with readers.
Several authors point out the difference between clinical bibliotherapy, defined as professional therapy under the guidance of a trained therapist, and developmental bibliotherapy, defined as teacher-suggested reading that might help students cope with issues in their lives (Davis and Wilson, 1992, Abdullah, 2002, Jeon, 1992, Johnson, 2000, Cornett and Cornett, 1980). Admittedly, most teachers are not trained professional therapists. However, good teachers get to know their students and the concerns that flow through their lives, and they want to help their students learn to cope with these problems in a positive way.
Children today must cope with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to, such situations as divorce, physical and/or mental abuse, substance abuse, handicaps, learning disabilities, value conflicts, isolation, and complex relationships (Cornett and Cornett, 1980, Davis and Wilson, 1992). Unfortunately, these issues don't stay at home when children come to school; children bring the issues to school with them, where they often get in the way of a child's success in the classroom. Cornett and Cornett point out that bibliotherapy can help to address those higher needs that the psychologist Abraham Maslow espoused (Cornett and Cornett, 1980). Aiex lists many reasons for the use of bibliotherapy, all of which fall into Maslow's higher needs areas (1993). Aiex also makes an important point in reference to teachers knowing the needs of their children well. She references the Bibliotherapy Fact Sheet, which notes, "…a practitioner must remember that [bibliotherapy] is more than just the casual recommendation of a certain book to an individual—it is a deliberate course of action that requires careful planning" (1993, p.2-3). This, perhaps, is what separates the process of bibliotherapy from simply reading a book that addresses an issue. The course of action involves the reader using the text to think her way through a problem and decide on a course of action that will help her to cope with the problem (Timmerman, Martin, and Martin, 1989).
The literature points out that the process of bibliotherapy for the reader involves three basic steps: identification, catharsis, and insight (Cornett and Cornett, 1980). In the first step, the reader connects with a character in a novel, short story, poem, or play who is experiencing a situation similar to the one the reader is experiencing. Because of this connection, the reader begins to experience a vicarious catharsis that releases emotions connected with the situation. Finally, the reader begins to gain insight into the situation in her life, along with possible solutions to the problem. The reader may see ways to cope with the problem through the actions of the character in the reading material, or she may be prompted to think through some alternative ways of dealing with it based on what she has read. Several researchers suggest that the value of bibliotherapy lies not just in the book recommended to the child, but also in the reading process that accompanies the book. Forgan suggests using such prereading strategies as Venn diagrams and KWL charts to help students begin to think about the book and the issues it addresses (2002, p.76). Borders and Paisley suggest that students use reading journals during the reading process to record their thoughts about the situations in the book (1992, p.135). Pardeck suggests a variety of post-reading activities which enable the reader to process and discuss what she has read. These activities might include creative writing, illustration, and role-playing (1995, p. 84). All of these activities allow students to actively think through the issues the character(s) are experiencing and begin to gain insight into ways to cope with their own problems.
All of the literature cautions that bibliotherapy be undertaken with much thought and careful application. Johnson, et al, for instance, urge that the process must "… include supportive, safe and positive discussion, use of positive reinforcement, character and situation predictability, nonjudgmental questioning, student-generated questioning, timing, and meaningful extension activities" (2000, p. 7). In short, the teacher can't just suggest a book to a child, and never have any follow-up activities which allow the child to process what she has read in view of the problems with which she is coping. Warner cautions that teachers must be careful not to expose a particular child's problem to the class because that could cause the child to be "teased" (1980, p.109), further exacerbating the concerns of that child. Additionally, teachers must be "sensitive to the adolescent's ability to own the problem" (Nickolai-Mays, 1987, p. 19). Some concerns run so deep in the child's life that she cannot, at any one particular time, talk about or begin to cope with them. The teacher must make every effort to know her students well enough, and develop a relationship with them, so that they are comfortable with and open to her suggestions for reading materials. The hope is that then the students will open up so that she can help lead them through the process of gaining insight into whatever it is that troubles them. We must remember, again, that we are not trained therapists, but only teachers wanting to help prepare our students to live life to the fullest.
This unit seems to be particularly germane to my students at Lake Shore Middle School. The school is located on the west side of Jacksonville, Florida. We are considered an urban school in a suburban area. Our school is naturally desegregated because the populations of the neighborhoods from which we pull are naturally desegregated. The majority of our students come from a lower socio-economic level. Sixty-eight percent of our students receive free or reduced lunch benefits. Academically, we have a large population of students who score at a Level One or Level Two in reading comprehension on our state assessment test, the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. In an effort to cope with this large population of struggling readers, each team of students at each grade level has two Language Arts/Reading teachers. This model was adopted in order to lower class sizes in these classes, giving these teachers more time to focus on addressing the reading deficits of their students.
As many as ten years ago, I had a majority of students who simply did not want to read at all. I struggled daily to find ways to intrigue students with books and other reading materials in an effort get them to read. In the past five years, however, largely in part to some additional emphasis in our county on teaching reading strategies to the struggling readers, I have begun to see students who do want to read, but who still have reading difficulties that need to be addressed. I also have many students who have tremendously debilitating personal issues in their lives. I stock the shelves of my classroom with books that I hope will attract my students. I listen to student conversations about books, and monitor what they are reading. In watching what my students read, I have begun to notice that the books on my shelves that are the most popular are those that deal with some of the very issues with which my students are confronted. These books are passed from student to student, and even to friends of my students on other teams and in other grade levels. Through personal responses written by my students about these books, I find that they like them because they can see themselves and their friends in the characters. The whole premise of bibliotherapy is that if a reader can be presented with books that show characters coping with a problem in a positive way, then perhaps she can adopt some of those coping strategies to cope with the same sorts of difficulty in her own life, and gain insight into her own strengths. Hopefully, my unit will encourage my students to continue to explore these and other books and the problems with which the characters are confronted; and then cause them to begin thinking deeply about ways to deal with the concerns that plague their lives.
This unit addresses the use of bibliotherapy in two ways. First, the class will be involved in a novel study of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. This book deals with many of the concerns facing my students today, including loneliness, social alienation, alienation or loss of familial love, complications of friendship, the struggle to overcome adversity, making responsible choices, and taking responsibility for one's own actions. Without singling any student out, all students in the class will be able to see possible ways to cope with some of the problems they are personally facing as the class examines and analyzes this novel. In various writing assignments, such as their responses in dialogue journals and essays, as well as conversation with their peers and the teacher, students will be afforded the opportunity to thoughtfully consider ways that the characters deal with the issues that face them, and perhaps make the choice to try some of these solutions themselves. The dialogue journals will be read carefully by the teacher, and notes taken to help facilitate conferencing between the students and the teacher.
Secondly, through administering and then considering student answers to the Reading Survey and the Issue Completion Exercise, I will begin to develop an understanding of the problems my students are facing, and I can begin to suggest to them books that portray characters coping positively with the same predicaments. I will conference regularly and independently with my students, discussing the books they are reading as well as our class novel, and will try to elicit conversation about the concerns in the books that mirror the concerns in their personal lives. These conversations are intended to develop relationships with my students that will give me the opportunity to try to help my students through the rocky spots in their lives.
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